While the stories of Falcao joining Chelsea were still just speculation there was always the addition to the story that Monaco wanted a young Chelsea player on loan in exchange, well now Falcao is a Chelsea player and Monaco did indeed get a Chelsea youngster in return and that player is Mario Pasalic.

Pasalic may be a name that a lot of Chelsea fans may not know having never played for Chelsea at any age, he is one of the players Chelsea buy and loan straight out in the hope that their development will be enough for them to be a Chelsea player one day.

Pasalic is a German born Croatian international who plays in central midfield. Pasalic made his break in football with Croatian club Hajduk Split where over a 2 season period in their first team squad he made 32 appearances scoring 11 goals. The stories of Chelsea signing Pasalic surfaced in the January of 2014 however the move was not made official until July of 2014.

Pasalic spent the whole of last season on loan in La Liga at Elche, after taking a while to settle in as you would expect for a young player joining a big league for the first time Pasalic eventually settled into becoming a first team regular for Elche around December and after that time was a virtual ever present for the Spanish side eventually making 29 appearances and scoring 5 goals.

The fact that Pasalic was a player that Monaco wanted to bring to their club is a testament to the potential ability of this young man and he is keen to use this move to develop his skills further to eventually one day play for the club that signed him last year.